2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 588 "It's gone viral!"

P.S.: Hoping for a minimum number of monthly votes at the beginning of the month; votes at the beginning of the month are more useful than those at the end.

In fact, whether Mitsubishi withdraws from Changfeng Motor is indeed the most crucial factor in this restructuring.

If Weilai Auto does not withdraw, it will be unable to properly integrate Changfeng, nor will it be able to re-establish a new joint venture with Mitsubishi. In that case, one of Weilai's hidden objectives (to obtain the Mitsubishi SUV platform) will not be achieved.

Prior to the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, Tan Jincheng, accompanied by Li Jianxin, had a brief meeting with representatives of Mitsubishi. The domestic representatives of Mitsubishi verbally agreed to the withdrawal of shares, but subsequent cooperation would require the approval of their headquarters.

"We're going on a trip to Xiaorijia in October. How about you come along? We can treat it as a honeymoon."

That night, Tan Jincheng returned to the hotel, a little tipsy, and said to Gu Qingqing.

It's true that many things are accomplished over drinks. Tan Jincheng hadn't really felt this before, but he's come to realize it now after being in Xiangcheng for a while.

"Okay, okay, I got it. You'd better wash up quickly, you smell like alcohol."

Gu Qingqing found it both funny and painful. Back in Beicang, he had never been treated like this. Everyone fawned over him, and it was impossible to get him drunk.

Even high-ranking officials wouldn't dare to do that casually.

"Help me, I have no strength left."

Even when he was drunk, he still acted like a hooligan. Gu Qingqing was truly speechless at this sixth brother.

However, the drinking session tonight was actually quite effective. By drinking three glasses in a row, he won Li Jianxin's company to go to the headquarters of Xiao Rizi. In addition, a senior official from Hunan Province, GY, will also be going along.

With the help of the Hunan Provincial Government, which has a long-term cooperative relationship with Mitsubishi, and Li Jianxin, it should be much easier to negotiate a joint venture with Mitsubishi.

Putting aside our attitude towards daily life, we still need to talk. We can't let foreigners block the path of our automotive industry's development. At worst, we'll just play dirty tricks. What can you do about it?

The most important thing right now is to negotiate the cash and share swap ratio with the city investment company and Changfeng Group, which is the actual valuation of Changfeng Group.

Monday, April 9th.

Formal share swap terms negotiations have begun.

Changfeng Group suspended trading for four trading days within eight days and then held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The resumption of trading and the content of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders must be announced to the public.

Originally, it was thought to be a simple acquisition and change of major shareholders, but no one expected that FlashTech actually had plans to go public through a backdoor listing!
The announcement clearly stated that Flash Group intends to achieve the overall listing of its subsidiary, Flash Technology, through a cash and equity swap with Changfeng Group. Now, those funds that were liquidated are in a state of shock.

Damn it, this kid tricked us. We thought we could use his popularity to ride the wave and sell our stuff, but he ended up washing everyone's hands of the game!

The tens of thousands of investors trapped in the scheme have already begun their celebration.

What does a backdoor listing mean? Anyone who's ever looked at stocks for a couple of days knows!
However, since the company is going to go public through a backdoor listing, there is no hope that Changfeng Group will resume trading in the near future; all that is left is to wait.

Unlike the situation after the stock market's massive expansion, in an era when computer penetration was not very advanced, most of the "leeks" (or "newbies") who speculated in stocks were people with money and leisure time. Changfeng Group, with nearly 50,000 shareholders, had a large number of these "leeks".

These idle people, holding anywhere from a few hundred shares to several thousand shares to tens of thousands of shares, discussed the topic of Flash Technology's backdoor listing online over the weekend.

With the Olympics still going strong, coupled with this backdoor listing, FlashTech and its parent company, FlashTech Group, have officially broken into the mainstream.

Many companies have well-known product brands among consumers, but no one knows the company name.

It's like watching short videos on Douyin in a past life. Everyone knows Douyin, but there are many people in the comments section who don't know who its boss is or which company ByteDance belongs to.

"Holy crap, their ads were everywhere during the Olympics, and Jay Chou's Guan Neng series is actually made by Flash Technology?"

"Hey, isn't this the CEO of Orange Technology who was all the rage in the first half of the year? He even went to the US for an interview. And he's also the boss of Flash Group?"

"Wow, impressive! They've created a listed company in the first half of the year. Are they planning to create another one in the second half?"

A company going public is also a great marketing opportunity. Tan Jincheng, who once again topped the trending list, was even staked out by reporters near his hotel last weekend, but unfortunately, the reporters failed to catch him.

Because Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing quietly returned to Ningbo over the weekend. Gu Qingqing was there to attend the school's freshman orientation ceremony, while Tan Jincheng went back to the Beicang government to discuss cooperation with Mitsubishi.

If a joint venture is established with Mitsubishi, then the headquarters, Tan Jincheng, will definitely be located in Beicang, Ningbo. Tan Jincheng feels safe in Beicang, a feeling he doesn't have in other cities.
I don't even feel this way in my hometown. This is the accumulation of decades of life experience, and there's no comparison.

The cooperation with Mitsubishi also requires the support of the Beicang government. Hunan Province will send a high-ranking government official there, and Beicang must send one as well, otherwise Tan Jincheng's influence alone will not be enough.

"If you can get Mitsubishi to come, I'll personally run an errand for you. If I'm not high enough, I can ask people from the city or even the province."

Leader Gu grew increasingly fond of Tan Jincheng. This young man was a lucky charm; he had managed to pull off such a remarkable feat with a backdoor listing. Zhejiang Province was relatively weak in the automotive industry, with only Geely as its sole player.

If another nationally renowned private car company can emerge and a cooperation agreement can be reached with Mitsubishi, then Zhejiang Province will have a place in the national automotive industry in the future. "I plan to establish a new joint venture with Mitsubishi, with a 5:5 share ratio. This is much better than their conditions with Changfeng. The equal share ratio can expand their dominance and increase their business scope in China. I believe they will agree to it."

"I have already communicated this with their domestic representatives. Their representatives are somewhat interested, but they cannot make the decision on behalf of headquarters."

"There's another point, as the leaders probably know, the subprime crisis in the US has started again. I heard from President Shen that this time it's much more serious than last year. We should be able to take advantage of this opportunity to make some profits."

Anyway, Shen Nanpeng has close ties with Wall Street and travels all over the world on business trips, so let him take the blame for what happened on the American side.

If there was any information that needed to be leaked, they would push it onto Shen Nanpeng.

Speaking of Mitsubishi, its situation in recent years has been rather average. Other Japanese brands are doing very well in the domestic market. Although Mitsubishi has the best reputation, its sales are just so-so.

Mitsubishi is eager to change its position in China and strive to catch up with other Japanese brands.

The only concern is whether Mitsubishi will scale back its investments in the event of a subprime crisis. Nobody knows how long the economic crisis will last, and not all companies dare to invest during an economic crisis.

"The district will take care of it, so you don't need to worry about it; but you should be careful lately, and if you have to give an interview due to the high level of public attention, don't talk nonsense."

"Okay, I know."

Tan Jincheng then realized that his previous remark had gone a bit too far. It wasn't his place to say such a thing, but fortunately, he was quite familiar with Director Gu, who had pointed it out to him.

"Don't worry, the cooperation with Mitsubishi is a good thing for the district, the city and the province. The district will definitely give you its full support and will also give full support to Flash Technology's listing plan."

Having come this far, Tan Jincheng had nothing more to say. It was only in a market dominated by private enterprises that Flash Group would receive such treatment.

Furthermore, if Flash Technology successfully goes public, it will not only be the third listed company in Beicang District, but also the first listed company in Beicang District on the A-share market.

The three listed companies are located in three different places: Hong Kong, New York, and Shanghai.

That's pretty bizarre.
-
With the buzz surrounding him, Mr. Tan returned to the negotiating table, and the biggest point of contention between the two sides became the disagreement over the overall valuation of Changfeng Group.

"President Zhou, President Li, you guys are really going too far. This is an unfair markup. Besides, I'm going to give you back the off-road vehicle business. You should deduct some of this from the price, right?"

"If you can eat it, can you give it to us? You can't eat it, can you?"

"Why can't I eat? Changfeng isn't the only company in the country that makes off-road vehicles; besides, if Changfeng can do it, why can't we at Weilai?"

"Haha, little kid, some things aren't as simple as you think."

"Hehe, I won't argue with you about that, but how did you come up with a valuation of 30 billion? When trading was suspended, it was only worth 20 billion. Look at the current market and overseas stock markets. If I had contacted you half a month later, I would have been lucky to have a market value of 15 billion. You should be thanking me."

"Who gave you the courage? Was it Fish Leong?"

Gu Qingqing, who was standing to the side, almost burst out laughing and quickly tugged at Tan Jincheng under the table.

Tan Jincheng was taken aback: "Why are you pulling me? Who told him to call me a kid? In negotiations, everyone is equal. Please show me the respect you deserve."

Li Jianxin shook his head and smiled bitterly. He had gotten impatient and just blurted out a sentence, which resulted in this kid launching into a tirade.

Of course, those words were indeed impolite; he hadn't thought them through.

However, an apology is definitely out of the question.

"Oh, Mr. Tan, if we disagree on the valuation, we can discuss it properly. But you only gave a valuation of 20 billion, which is a bit unreasonable. You say we added too much, but you can't not add anything at all."

It's strange that Zhou Kai acted as a peacemaker. This boss is a very humble person in private, and he is very polite to everyone. But how come he becomes so aggressive at the negotiating table?

Unlike his previous generosity of 1.8 million, this time he was incredibly stingy, only planning to calculate the share swap based on the market value at the time of the trading halt for the entire Changfeng Group.

20 billion? That's not even as high as FlashTech's valuation! They'd be losing money hand over fist.

"Adding a little bit is not out of the question, but without your method of addition, Changfeng Group wouldn't be worth 30 billion. You should just develop a new car first."

Asking for an exorbitant price, but settling for a lower price later.

If you dare to ask for 30 billion, I dare not add a single cent. I won't let you think I'm so easy to manipulate.

Here it comes again, "Don't hit someone in the face," and that's it again. Li Jianxin and even Zhou Kai wanted to slam the table and leave. What the hell? It's infuriating.

(End of this chapter)